Method and system for processing poultry portions

ABSTRACT

A method of processing poultry portions determines at a control unit a target weight of a cut poultry portion; inspects a poultry portion using an inspection unit to determine a mass distribution of said poultry portion and providing said mass distribution to the control unit; calculates a cutting plan of the poultry portion based on the target weight and the mass distribution using the control unit; uses a mechanical gripper so as to grip the poultry portion and arrange said poultry portion for execution of the cutting plan; and cuts the poultry portion using a cutting unit in accordance with the cutting plan so as to produce a cut poultry portion in accordance with the target weight. A system for processing poultry portions is configured to perform the foregoing method, among others.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of processing poultryportions, in particular chicken breast, and systems for processing saidpoultry portions.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

It is common for poultry portions, such as chicken breasts, to beprocessed by cutting or trimming in order to better fulfil particularorder requirements. Cutting and trimming is commonly performed so thatcut poultry portions meet weight requirements, in particular. Forexample, a particular requirement in the art is that cut poultryportions have a weight corresponding to a single meal portion.Processing can also involve trimming the poultry portion to removeforeign objects, such as fat and bone pieces. In other specific cases,portions may be cut down to a size suitable for fulfilling part of anorder for a batch of poultry portions, e.g. for a batch of chickenbreasts weighing 750 grams.

Many automated systems have been developed for the processing of poultryportions in order to reduce labour costs, increase the accuracy withwhich portions can be cut, reduce wastage of product though offcuts,minimise giveaway though oversized products and increase processingspeed. Typically, the most efficient way of trimming a poultry portiondown to a desired weight will involve making a cut that is unique tothat poultry portion and a common way of accommodating these uniquecutting plans has been to provide complex robot arms for cutting alongany desired cutting line. An example of a known system for trimmingpoultry portions may be found in WO 2015/198062 A1. In this system, acomplex robot cutting arm with water jet is used to trim poultryportions so as to remove foreign objects. However, such robot arms areincredibly expensive and so prevent wider adoption of these moreefficient methods of processing poultry portions. It is therefore anobject of the present invention to provide an improved method forprocessing poultry portions that does not involve expensive and complexrobotic cutting arms, while maintaining the benefits associated withcustomised cutting plans for individual poultry portions.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of processing poultry portions comprising: determining at acontrol unit a target weight of a cut poultry portion; inspecting apoultry portion using an inspection unit to determine a massdistribution of said poultry portion and providing said massdistribution to the control unit; calculating a cutting plan of thepoultry portion based on the target weight and the mass distributionusing the control unit; using a mechanical gripper so as to grip thepoultry portion and arrange said poultry portion for execution of thecutting plan; and cutting the poultry portion using a cutting unit inaccordance with the cutting plan so as to produce a cut poultry portionin accordance with the target weight. It has been identified that theprocessing of poultry portions can be made more cost effective by usinga mechanical gripper to grip the poultry portion and arrange the poultryportion relative to a cutting unit for execution of a cutting plan. Theuse of such a mechanical gripper to arrange a poultry portion prior tocutting allows more complex cutting plans to be executed by a relativelysimple cutting unit.

While the present method is directed to the processing of poultryportions, it is also envisaged that the method could be applied to othertypes of food portions, such as fish portions and meat portions.

The target weight may be a single value, e.g. 160 grams, or may be arange, e.g. 150 to 160 grams. In some simple scenarios, the targetweight for each cut poultry portion may be a single value that is fixedfor each poultry portion. However, in the majority of cases, a number offactors contribute towards the determination of the target weight andthese will be described below. It should be noted, however, that thedetermination of the target weight may be made at any stage beforecalculating the cutting plan and indeed in some embodiments theinspection data, e.g. the mass distribution, may be one of the factorsused to determine a target weight. Similarly, the mechanical gripper mayhave already received the poultry portion before the target weight isdetermined.

It should also be noted at this stage that the mechanical gripper andthe cutting unit will typically be controlled by the control unit toexecute the above mentioned tasks.

A common type of order for poultry portions is a batch of poultryportions, with each batch having a target weight. For example, it iscommon to purchase batches of chicken breast fillets in packages havinga set weight. In order to efficiently accommodate batch weightrequirements, preferably the method comprises forming a batch of poultryportions, and the target weight is determined based on a target batchweight and a weight of a present incomplete batch. The target batchweight will typically be the weight associated with a particular order.For example, an order might be for a 1000 batches of chicken breastfillets, each batch having a weight of 750 grams, in which case thetarget batch weight may be 750 grams. Again, any tolerances in batchweight may be accommodated by a target batch weight that is a range ofweights, e.g. 740 to 760 grams. The weight of a present incomplete batchmay be the weight of a batch currently being prepared. This may be 0grams if no portions have yet been allocated to a batch, or may be somenon-zero value less than the target batch weight. For example, if aparticular batch has a present incomplete weight of 590 grams and atarget batch weight of 750 grams, a target weight might be determined as160 grams for completing the batch. In this situation, the methodcomprises calculating the target weight as the weight required tocomplete the batch, before inspecting the poultry portion andcalculating a cutting plan required to achieve said target weight.

Some orders may require a particular number of poultry portions in abatch of poultry portions. For example, an order might be 1000 batches,each having four chicken breast portions with a total batch weight of750 grams. Therefore, preferably the target weight is determined basedon a target number of poultry portions in said batch and a number ofpoultry portions in said present incomplete batch. It should be notedhere that the target number of poultry portions may again be a range,e.g. three to five poultry portions. By including a target number ofpoultry portions in the determination of target weight, it is possibleto prevent incomplete batches of poultry portions being produced thatcannot be completed by incoming poultry portions.

Preferably, the target weight is determined based on a weight of saidpoultry portion and/or based on a weight of one or more poultry portionslocated upstream of said poultry portion. Including the weight of theincoming poultry portions in the determination of the target weight canprevent, for example, very large poultry portions being used to producesmall cut poultry portions, which would result in a large amount of thelower value offcut poultry being produced. Including the weight ofupstream poultry portions in the determination also allows the system tobe sensitive to variations in the weight of incoming poultry portionsand to more efficiently use incoming poultry. For example, the methodmay take into account that upstream poultry portions are relativelysmall and so increase the target weight for the poultry portion inquestion so that the incoming smaller poultry portions can beaccommodated into a particular batch.

The above has focussed on the determination of a single target weightfor a single poultry portion. However, it will be appreciated that thismethod will be repeated for each subsequently received poultry portion.For example, the method may include determining a target weight for asubsequent cut poultry portion, said new target weight being determinedbased on at least the target batch weight and an updated weight of apresent incomplete batch, and optionally based on a target number ofpoultry portions in said batch and updated number of poultry portions insaid present incomplete batch and further optionally based on a weightof a subsequent poultry portion and/or a weight of one or more poultryportions located upstream of said subsequent poultry portion. Forexample, the updated weight of the present incomplete batch may bedetermined by adding a previous target weight to the previous presentincomplete batch weight. Alternatively, the incomplete batch may beweighed to update the weight of the present incomplete batch. In a yetfurther alternative, each cut poultry portion may be weighed aftercutting and before being included in the batch to confirm the preciseweight of the poultry portion and maintain a running total weight forthe batch.

In some embodiments, determining the target weight is based on one of atarget minimum offcut weight, a target maximum offcut weight and atarget offcut weight. Offcut is the part of the poultry portion, usuallythe smaller part of the divided poultry portion, that is used forsecondary products, such as nuggets or processed foods. Offcut isgenerally of lower value than the cut poultry portion otherwise formedas part of the cutting plan. Therefore, it is typically desirable toensure offcut does not go beyond a target maximum weight. On the otherhand, in some cases, offcut material below a certain weight will havemore limited uses further decreasing its value or requiring the offcutto be rejected entirely. Therefore some embodiments include a targetminimum offcut weight for achieving an offcut that can be used for apreferred offcut product, although this may be ignored in cases when theoffcut cannot be used, e.g. when there is a bone fragment in the offcut.In some specific cases, it may be desirable to achieve offcut having aspecified weight and this may be factored into the determination of thetarget weight. For example, offcut may be used as chicken pieces, whichhave higher value if they can be sold together in batches with eachpiece having similar weight. By considering the value of the offcut whendetermining the target weight, the overall value extracted from thepoultry portion may be maximised, increasing cost effectiveness.

While the control unit may simply prioritise different types of order,e.g. prioritise orders for cut poultry portions over orders for chickenpieces made from offcut, in some embodiments, the control unit is alsoprovided with value data, which may include the value associated withcut poultry portions and different sized offcuts.

The determination of the target weight may then be based also on thevalue data. For example, a batch order for cut poultry portions may havea value of £4 per kilogram of poultry, while an order for chicken piecesusing offcut may have a value of £2 per kilogram and processed foodorders using offcut a value of £1 per kilogram of poultry. Thedetermination of the target weight may take these values into account inorder to extract the most value from the incoming poultry portion.

There are a number of ways in which the poultry portion may beinspected. In some embodiments, the inspection unit comprises a weighingunit and inspecting the poultry portion comprises weighing said poultryportion with the weighing unit. In a very simple embodiment, the weightdetermined by the weighing unit may be used in conjunction with atypical model of a chicken breast portion to estimate a massdistribution of the poultry portion. However, in the majority of cases,a weight would be used in conjunction with an imaging means, which willbe discussed below.

The method may comprise an inspection unit comprising an imaging unitand inspecting the poultry portion comprises imaging said poultryportion with the imaging unit so as to determine a volume distributionof said poultry portion. In some simplified cases, the volumedistribution may be used in conjunction with a an average mass densityof the type of poultry portion being processed to establish a massdistribution. However, preferably such an embodiment would be combinedwith a weighing unit as detailed above.

In particular, the combination of a weighing unit and an imaging unit asdescribed above would allow for a more accurate mass distribution to beestablished and therefore improve the accuracy of the cutting plan.

In a yet further preferred embodiment, the inspection unit comprises ascanning unit, such as an ultrasound unit or an x-ray unit, andinspecting the poultry portion comprises scanning said poultry portionwith the scanning unit. That is, it is preferred that there is provideda scanning unit capable of directly measuring a mass distribution of apoultry portion. For example, as mentioned, an x-ray unit may be used togenerate a mass map representing the poultry portion. Such scanner unitswill typically further increase the accuracy of the mass distributionand therefore allow for more accurate cutting plans to be calculated.For example, such scanning units will typically accommodate variationsin mass density throughout the poultry portion, which may then beaccounted for in the cutting plan.

As will be clear from the above, the inspection unit may comprise anumber of individual units that gather respective sets of inspectiondata and indeed the weighing, imaging and scanning units mentioned abovemay be used in conjunction with one another. The inspection unit mayalso comprise other devices for gathering other types of inspectiondata, such as a camera for inspecting for blood spots.

With poultry portions such as chicken breast in particular, it istypically preferred that the cutting plan is tailored to the anatomy ofthe particular type of poultry portion. For example, with chickenbreast, it is preferred that offcuts are made at the thicker end of thechicken breast and proximate the inner facing surface of the chickenbreast such that the external appearance is maintained. Therefore,preferably, inspecting the poultry portion comprises identifying apredetermined anatomical region of said poultry portion, and calculatingthe cutting plan is based on the mass distribution and the predeterminedanatomical region. For example, calculating the cutting plan maycomprise identifying a cutting line within the predetermined anatomicalregion that produces a cut poultry portion that meets the target weight.In this case, using the example of the chicken breast fillet, thepredetermined anatomical region may be the region at the thicker end ofthe chicken breast fillet and proximate the inner facing side of thechicken breast fillet. It will be appreciated here that cutting linemeans the two dimensional area defined through the poultry portion thatdivides the poultry portion in two. This area may be planar or may havea more complex shape.

Another means of ensuring the cutting plan maintains externalappearance, particularly in chicken breast, comprises inspecting thepoultry portion so as to identify a major axis of the poultry portion,wherein calculating the cutting plan comprises calculating a cuttingline relative to the major axis. For example, the cutting plan mayrequire a cutting line with a predetermined angular range relative tothe major axis. In particular, calculating a cutting line relative tothe major axis comprises calculating a cutting line defining a generallyacute angle relative to the major axis.

In an alternative embodiment, calculating a cutting line relative to themajor axis comprises calculating a cutting line generally defining aplane parallel to the major axis. This may be used to trim, for example,a constant thickness off an inner facing surface of a chicken breast.This represents one way of reducing a weight of a poultry portion whileachieving a high-value offcut product. For example, this cuttingarrangement may maintain the outward facing appearance of a chickenbreast and achieve an offcut that may be used, for example, for offcutproduct such as schnitzel.

In some preferred embodiments, the method further comprises inspectingthe poultry portion so as to identify a presence and a location of aforeign object, such as a bone fragment, within the poultry portion andcalculating the cutting plan is further based on the location of theforeign object. That is, the cutting plan may be required to include theforeign object in the offcut so as to ensure the cut poultry portion isfree of foreign objects. Furthermore, determining the target weight maybe based on the presence of the foreign object. For example, the controlunit may aim to minimise the size of the offcut so that the offcut withforeign object can be rejected as waste while minimising the lost value.If, in contrast, a sizable offcut was produced, it may be necessary toeither further process the offcut to remove the foreign object andsalvage a usable portion of the offcut, or to reject the larger offcutand lose an increased value of usable offcut poultry, both of which areless cost effective.

Typically, using the mechanical gripper so as to arrange said poultryportion for execution of the cutting plan will comprise moving thepoultry portion relative to the cutting unit. For example, themechanical gripper may convey the poultry portion to the cutting unitand place the poultry portion in a required position or orient thepoultry portion as required so that the cutting unit may execute thecutting plan.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises conveying the poultryportion to the mechanical gripper using a conveying unit and preferablyfurther comprises lifting the poultry portion off said conveying unitusing the mechanical gripper. Lifting the poultry portion, in particularduring cutting, may prevent the cutting unit from damaging the conveyerunit. Alternatively, arranging said poultry portion for execution of thecutting plan may comprise moving, or reorienting, the poultry portion onsaid conveying unit, and said conveying unit is subsequently used toconvey the poultry portion to the cutting unit. In these embodiments,the mechanical gripper may place the poultry portion in such a way thatwhen it arrives at the cutting unit it is in a position that allowsexecution of the cutting plan.

Preferably, the method comprises cutting the poultry portion while saidpoultry portion is gripped by the mechanical gripper. This increases theaccuracy with which the cutting plan can be executed as the poultryportion is inhibited from moving during cutting by the mechanicalgripper.

In many embodiments, to minimise the cost associated with the cuttingunit, the cutting unit is configured to cut along a predeterminedcutting direction and arranging the poultry portion comprises arrangingsaid poultry portion relative to the predetermined cutting directionsuch that the cutting unit is able to cut the poultry portion inaccordance with the cutting plan.

Preferably, the mechanical gripper is also used as part of the sortingand conveying of the cut poultry portions. For example, preferably themethod comprises gripping the poultry portion at a pickup location usingthe mechanical gripper and depositing the cut poultry portion at adeposit location, separate from the pickup location, using themechanical gripper. In particular, where the method comprises forming abatch of poultry portions, preferably the deposit location is a packagefor the batch of poultry portions. That is, the mechanical gripper mayserve the additional function of arranging cut poultry portions intobatches in respective packages. This may further reduce the cost of thesystem for implementing the method as no separate robot arms arerequired for sorting and packing batches of poultry portions. Forexample, the mechanical gripper may pick up a poultry portion and holdthe poultry portion during execution of the cutting plan. The offcut maythereby be separated from the cut poultry portion that is retained inthe mechanical gripper. The mechanical gripper may then transfer the cutpoultry portion directly into a package for a batch of poultry portions.

In some embodiments, the mechanical gripper comprises a weighing unitand the method further comprises weighing the cut poultry portion withthe mechanical gripper after execution of the cutting plan. Thisembodiment allows for the mechanical gripper to confirm that the cuttingplan was executed to an acceptable degree of accuracy. This embodimentis particularly preferable when combined with the above mentionedformation of batches using the mechanical gripper as it allows for thecontrol unit to infer the weight of a batch in progress with highaccuracy.

The method can be implemented in the most cost effective manner when thecutting unit is a low cost cutting unit and so preferably the cuttingunit comprises a cutting blade, and further preferably the blade isconfigured to cut in a single cutting plane. Again, here the mechanicalgripper is being used in conjunction with a relatively simple cuttingunit and the mechanical gripper is responsible for moving and orientingthe poultry portion and enabling the cutting unit to carry out thecutting plan.

While the above aspect of the invention is designed to utilise amechanical gripper to arrange a poultry portion such that a complexcutting device is not required, it will also be appreciated that thevarious preferred features discussed above introduce their ownadvantages such that it may be desirable to implement the method in analternative scenario without a mechanical gripper. For example, acomparative method may comprise calculating a cutting plan and executingthe cutting plan without the intervention of a mechanical gripper. Amechanical gripper may nonetheless be used after execution of thecutting plan, for example, to arrange the cut poultry portion in batchesas described above.

The system has been described above with respect to scenarios in whichthe target weight is determined with respect to a single order, i.e.wherein the system deals with a single order for a cut poultry portionat a time. Commonly, however, the system will have multiple orders thatit is aiming to fulfil simultaneously. This may be multiple orders ofthe same type or multiple different orders or a mixture of the two. Forexample, there may be an order for batches of two chicken breast filletsweighing 300 grams and there may be two batches in progress, one with anin-progress weight of 160 grams and one with an in progress weight of155 grams. Alternatively, or additionally, the system may have two typesof order, e.g. an order for batches of two chicken breast filletsweighing 300 grams and an order for single breast fillets weighing 150grams. In scenarios such as these, it is desirable to ensure that apoultry portion is allocated to an order than enables the highest valueto be extracted. Therefore, preferably, the method comprises determininga plurality of target weights, each target weight being associated witha respective order to be fulfilled, and further comprising selecting oneof the plurality of target weights that best corresponds to theinspected poultry portion, wherein calculating the cutting plan is basedon the selected target weight and the mass distribution of the inspectedpoultry portion. Here, the system effectively simulates the allocationand processing of the poultry portion in accordance with each of theorders by determining respective target weights. The system may estimatethe total value that will be obtained by processing the poultry portionin accordance with each order and may select the order with the highestvalue as the order that will be fulfilled. Alternatively, the system maysimply select the order as the one with the lowest giveaway, i.e. theexpected cut poultry portion weight that least exceeds the weightrequired by the corresponding order.

Other factors may influence which of the target weights is selected forthe poultry portion in question. Preferably, selecting one of theplurality of target weights that best corresponds to the inspectedpoultry portion, is based on one or more of an estimated offcut weight,a foreign object presence and/or location, a weight of one or morepoultry portions located upstream of said poultry portion, a forecastedupdated batch weight for one or more orders to be fulfilled (i.e.compared to the target batch weight), and a forecasted updated number ofpoultry portions in a batch for one or more orders to be fulfilled (i.e.compared to the target number of portions in the completed batch). Otherfactors that may influence the decision include the total number of eachtype of order to be fulfilled and the time since the last poultryportion was allocated to each order type. For example, if we have 1000orders for batches of two chicken breast fillets weighing 300 grams and100 orders for single breast fillets weighing 150 grams, the system mayweight towards selecting for batches of two chicken breast fillets asthere are more of those orders to fulfil. Alternatively, if the lastfive, for example, poultry portions were allocated to orders for singlebreast fillets weighing 150 grams, then the system may begin weightingtowards batches of two chicken breast fillets to address this bias.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there isprovided a system comprising: a control unit adapted to determine atarget weight of a cut poultry portion and to calculate a cutting planof a poultry portion based on the target weight and a mass distributionof said poultry portion; an inspection unit adapted to inspect a poultryportion to determine the mass distribution of said poultry portion andprovide said mass distribution to the control unit; a mechanical gripperadapted to grip the poultry portion and arrange said poultry portion forexecution of the cutting plan; and a cutting unit adapted to cut thepoultry portion in accordance with the cutting plan so as to produce acut poultry portion in accordance with the target weight of a cutpoultry portion.

It will be appreciated that all of the above describe preferred featuresof the first aspect of the invention apply equally to this second aspectof the invention.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a computer-readable medium comprising computer executableinstructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer tocarry out steps of: determining a target weight of a cut poultryportion; calculating a cutting plan of the poultry portion based on thetarget weight and a received mass distribution of the poultry portion;instructing a mechanical gripper to grip the poultry portion and arrangesaid poultry portion for execution of the cutting plan; instructing acutting unit to cut the poultry portion in accordance with the cuttingplan so as to produce a cut poultry portion in accordance with thetarget weight. Again, this aspect of the invention corresponds to theinstructions that would be executed by the control unit in order toeffect the method of the first aspect of the invention. Any preferredfeatures discussed above apply equally to this aspect of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows, schematically, a system for processing poultry accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a mechanical gripper suitable for use in the systemof FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A to 3C show a cutting unit suitable for use in the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the method implemented by thesystem of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5A and 5B show, schematically, a system for processing poultryaccording to an embodiment of the present invention at two differentstages during processing; and

FIG. 6 shows a cutting unit suitable for use in the system of FIGS. 5Aand 5B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of the invention will now be described with referenceto FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 shows, schematically, a system for implementing the method of theinvention. The system 1 comprises a series of conveyors 20 that conveyuncut poultry portions 10, in this case chicken breast fillets, pastinspection unit 100, mechanical gripper 200 and cutting unit 300 of thepoultry processing system, which will be described in more detail below.

The conveyors are connected (not shown) to a control system 50 thatoperates all elements of the system. As shown in FIG. 4, a first step ofperforming the method is to input order data into the control unit 50 instep S100. In a simplest scenario, the order data may simply comprise afixed target weight for a cut poultry portion; however, more commonlythe order data includes a number of elements. For example, the orderdata may include orders for different types of end products, e.g. singlechicken breast fillets, batches of a specified number of chicken breastfillets with specified weight, and offcut orders. Order data associatedwith single breast fillets may be include a target weight range, e.g. aminimum and/or maximum cut poultry portion weight, and a target, minimumand/or maximum offcut weight. Batch orders may include the target weightof each batch and/or a number or range of cut poultry portions to beincluded in each batch. An example batch order may be for four breastfillets at 700 grams with no individual portion being more than 200grams or less than 150 grams. Order data may also include dataconcerning orders to be fulfilled using the offcut. For example, highvalue offcut products, such as chicken nuggets, may require a targetminimum offcut weight or a target weight. While oversized offcuts couldbe trimmed down to meet a target offcut weight, this additionalprocessing would decrease the cost effectiveness of the offcut anddecrease the overall value extracted from the poultry portion and so amaximum offcut weight may also be included. Order data may also includedata of low value offcut orders, such as processed food orders that useoffcut unsuitable for more high value orders.

A poultry portion 10 entering the poultry processing system 1 isconveyed by the conveyor 20 first to an inspection unit 100. Theinspection unit in this embodiment comprises an X-ray unit and mayadditionally comprise a weighing unit and/or a camera or other imagingunit. The elements of the inspection unit 100 gather inspection data instep S200, which comprises at least a mass distribution generated, inthis case, by the X-ray unit, which is able to directly map the mass ofthe chicken breast fillet. The inspection data may also include detailsof foreign objects, such as bone pieces or blood spots, providing dataconcerning the presence, location, size and shape of the foreign object.The inspection data may also include a weight measured by means moreaccurate than the X-ray unit and data concerning the registered positionof the portion 10 on the conveyor 20.

The inspection unit 100 passes the inspection data to the control unit50 in step S300. The control unit may then use the inspection data andthe order data to determine a target weight for the poultry portion instep S400. For example, the order data may include an order for fourbreast fillets at 700 grams with no individual portion being more than200 grams or less than 150 grams, and also may include an order forchicken pieces, each with a weight of between 15 and 20 grams. If thepoultry portion 10 is determined to have a mass of 212 grams, thecontrol system may identify a target weight of 195 grams with 17 gramoffcut so that both elements of the cut poultry portion can be used tofulfil a high value order.

Following determination of the target weight, the control unitdetermines a cutting plan using the target weight and the massdistribution in step S500. In this embodiment, the cutting unit cutsalong a plane at a fixed angle to the conveyor, as will be described inmore detail below. However, the mechanical gripper is able to arrangethe poultry portion prior to cutting and so the control unit is able toevaluate a number of different positions along the poultry portion thatthe cutting plane might be arranged for cutting the poultry portion. Thecontrol unit identifies a position for the cut to be made that satisfiesthe target weight criteria.

The poultry portion 10 is conveyed to mechanical gripper 200 which isshown in more detail in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The mechanical gripper 200comprises a main supporting column 202 that and two pistons 203 arrangedat opposite sides of the column 202. At the lower end of the column 202is arranged a pair of gripping jaws comprising opposing jaw elements 201a, 201 b that, in a closed position, define an elongate V-shaped channeltherebetween. Each jaw element 201 a, 201 b is hinged at its upper end,proximate the support column, such that the lower ends of the jaws aremovable to open and close the V-shaped channel. The gripper is connectedat the upper end of the column 202 to a transport unit (not shown). Thetransport unit is able to rotate the whole gripper 200 about the centralaxis of the column, thereby giving the mechanical gripper 360° ofrotation. The transport unit is also able to raise and lower themechanical gripper and to effect translational motion to the gripper.The control system 50 is thereby able to arrange the gripper so that thelength of the V-shaped channel is aligned with the major axis of apoultry portion 10. The gripper is then able to lower into position andclose the jaws 201 a, 201 b to grip and collect the poultry portion. Thegripper is then able to further move and rotate to change the positionand orientation of the poultry portion relative to the conveyor surface,thereby effecting step S600 of FIG. 4.

The conveyor 20 then conveys the arranged poultry portion 10 to thecutting unit 300 shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C. The cutting unit 300 comprisesa support frame 301. Held over the conveyor 20 by the support frame 301is a rotary cutting unit. The rotary cutting unit comprises a motor 302and a rotary cutting blade 303. The motor holds the rotary cutting blade303 at a fixed angle of 45° to the transverse dimension of the conveyor.The conveyor 20 includes a slot 21 running along the length of theconveyor and into which the rotary cutting blade 303 extends. The slotthereby prevents the blade from damaging the conveyor while allowing theblade to cut entirely through a poultry portion. FIG. 3C shows a poultryportion 10 in the process of being cut by the cutting unit 300 in stepS700. The poultry portion has been arranged such that the blade makes acut at an angle of 45° into the thicker end of the chicken breast as theconveyor 20 moves the chicken breast 10 past the stationary cuttingblade. The cut at an angle of 45° into the thicker end of the chickenbreast is made such that more of the inner-facing side of the chickenbreast is included in the offcut than the outer-facing side. Thisarrangement of cut ensures that the cut chicken breast fillet lookssubstantially whole when the outward-facing surface of the breast isinspected.

Once the cut is made, the order data is updated to reflect that one cutpoultry portion has been produced and the cut poultry portion 11 andoffcut 12 are conveyed downstream for further processing, e.g.packaging. The method is repeated starting with step S200 as asubsequent poultry portion is inspected. While FIG. 4 suggests that theinspection of a new poultry portion only occurs after step S800, inpractice, the method will be operated continuously and a new poultryportion will typically be inspected while a first poultry portion isbeing processed.

A second embodiment will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to6.

FIG. 5A shows, schematically, another system for implementing the methodof the invention. The system 1 comprises a series of conveyors 20 thatconvey uncut poultry portions 10, again chicken breast fillets, pastinspection unit 100, and integrated gripping and cutting unit 250 of thepoultry processing system, which will be described in more detail below.A final conveyor 20 is shown holding a tray 15 in which a batch ofpoultry portions will be formed by the poultry processing system.

The system again comprises a control unit 50 into which order data isinput in step S100. In this embodiment, the system 1 forms batches ofcut poultry portions and so the order data includes, for example, ordersfor two cut chicken breast fillets having a total weight of 300 gramsand with each fillet having a weight no less than 125 grams and no morethan 175 grams. The order data also includes data concerning the offcutproducts to be fulfilled, as has been described above.

A poultry portion 10 entering the poultry processing system 1 isconveyed by the conveyor 20 first to an inspection unit 100. Theinspection unit comprises an X-ray unit, a weighing unit and a camera.The elements of the inspection unit 100 gather inspection data in stepS200, which comprises a mass distribution generated, in this case, bythe X-ray unit, a weight from the weighing unit and image data from thecamera.

The inspection unit 100 passes the inspection data to the control unit50 in step S300. The control unit may then use the inspection data andthe order data to determine a target weight for the poultry portion instep S400. In this case, the inspection data includes data indicatingthat a bone piece 13 is included in the present poultry portion 10 andan indication that the poultry portion weighs 184 grams. In step S400,the control unit recognises the presence of the bone piece. Since anyoffcut including the bone piece 13 would either be waste or requirefurther processing to recover usable poultry, the control unit isconfigured to minimise the size of the offcut to reduce the amount ofwasted poultry. The control unit 50 therefore determines a target weightof 170 to 175 grams, leaving an offcut of 9 to 14 grams, so as tomaximise the amount of poultry used to fulfil an order.

Following determination of the target weight, the control unit 50determines a cutting plan using the target weight, the massdistribution, and the location of the foreign object in step S500. Inthis embodiment, the cutting unit again cuts along a plane at a fixedangle and so the control unit 50 identifies a position for the cut to bemade based on the mass distribution that satisfies the target weightcriteria and that includes the bone piece 13 in the offcut portion 12.

The poultry portion 10 is then conveyed to the integrated gripping andcutting unit 250, which is shown in more detail in FIG. 6. Theintegrated gripping and cutting unit 250 comprises a main supportingcolumn 252 that and two pistons 253 arranged at opposite sides of thecolumn 252. At the lower end of the column 252 is arranged a pair ofgripping jaws comprising opposing jaw elements 251 a, 251 b that, in aclosed position, define an elongate V-shaped channel therebetween with abevelled edge at a forward end of the channel and at the lower edge ofthe jaw elements 251 a, 251 b, which will be described further below.Each jaw element 251 a, 251 b is hinged at its upper end, proximate thesupport column, such that the lower ends of the jaws are movable to openand close the V-shaped channel. The gripper is connected at the upperend of the column 252 to a transport unit (not shown). The transportunit is able to rotate the whole gripping and cutting unit 250 about thecentral axis of the column 252, thereby giving the mechanical gripper360° of rotation. The transport unit is also able to raise and lower themechanical gripper. Finally, the transport unit is able to move themechanical gripper along a track between a pickup location, shown inFIG. 5A, and a dispense location, shown in FIG. 5b . The pickup locationis the location at which it collects the poultry portion to be cut. Thedispense location will be described in more detail below.

The gripping and cutting unit 250 also comprises a cutting unit 350. Thecutting unit comprises a supporting member 351 that extends from thesupport column 252 to an actuator 352. The actuator acts on a cuttingblade 353 that is arranged at a 45° angle to the long axis of theV-shaped channel defined by the jaws 251 a, 251 b. The cutting blade353, in an extended position, extends along the edge of the jaws 251 a,251 b at the bevelled edge. The actuator 352 operates the cutting blade353 in a guillotine-like motion, raising and lowering the blade alongthe bevelled edge. This motion of the blade 353 provides that a forwardend of any poultry portion held in the jaws 251 a, 251 b receives a cutat a 45° angle, thereby making an offcut of the poultry portion.

The above-described gripping and cutting unit 250 is used to first gripthe poultry portion and arrange the poultry portion in step S600,lifting the poultry portion off the conveyor, before the guillotine-likemotion of the cutting blade 353 effects step S700 by cutting the poultryportion in accordance with the cutting plan. The offcut, containing thebone piece 13, falls to the conveyor 20 below. If the gripping andcutting unit 250 includes a coupling to the jaw elements 251 a, 251 bthat is able to measure weight, the gripper may then determine anaccurate weight of the cut poultry portion and provide this informationto the control unit.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the gripping and cutting unit 250 is then moved bythe transport unit to a separate conveyor 20, on which is arranged atray 15. In FIG. 5B, the tray 15 is shown as being located downstream ofthe conveyors on which the poultry portion entered the system; however,this is merely for clarity. Typically, the tray 15 will be arranged on aparallel conveyor line, thereby allowing offcuts to proceed alongdownstream conveyors for further processing. The gripping and cuttingunit 250 deposits the cut poultry portion 11 in the tray 15 and updatesthe order data to reflect that a batch in progress has one cut poultryportion 11 with a weight of 170 to 175 grams. If a weight was takenafter the cut was made, this weight used to update the order data may bemore accurate.

The method then reverts to step S200 for a subsequent poultry portion.Now, the control unit will use the inspection data and determine atarget weight for a subsequent cut poultry portion based on the updatedorder data that reflects that a cut poultry portion of weight 125 to 130grams is required.

In an alternative version of the embodiment of FIGS. 5A and 5B, a bufferzone may be included between the inspection unit 100 and the gripperunit 250 that allows the control unit to gather inspection data onmultiple incoming poultry portions. If for example, such a system werein an operational state as described above, i.e. with an order forbatches of two cut chicken breast fillets having a total weight of 300grams and with each fillet having a weight no less than 125 grams and nomore than 175 grams, the control unit may use this buffer zone to betterfulfil the order. For example, the control unit may recognise a firstpoultry portion with a weight of 184 grams and a second poultry portionwith a weight of 200 grams. On this basis, the control unit maydetermine that the first poultry portion should be cut down to, forexample, 140 grams, to reduce the size of the offcut that needs to bemade on the second poultry portion with a weight of 200 grams and ensurethat both offcuts can be used for high value offcut products withoutsignificant further processing.

1. A method of processing poultry portions, the method comprising:determining at a control unit a target weight of a cut poultry portion;inspecting a poultry portion using an inspection unit to determine amass distribution of said poultry portion and providing said massdistribution to the control unit; calculating a cutting plan of thepoultry portion based on the target weight and the mass distributionusing the control unit; using a mechanical gripper so as to grip thepoultry portion and arrange said poultry portion for execution of thecutting plan; and cutting the poultry portion using a cutting unit inaccordance with the cutting plan so as to produce a cut poultry portionin accordance with the target weight.
 2. A method according to claim 1,wherein the method comprises forming a batch of poultry portions, andwherein the target weight is determined based on a target batch weightand a weight of a present incomplete batch.
 3. A method according toclaim 2, wherein the target weight is determined based on a targetnumber of poultry portions in said batch and a number of poultryportions in said present incomplete batch.
 4. A method according toclaim 2, wherein the target weight is determined based on a weight ofsaid poultry portion and/or based on a weight of one or more poultryportions located upstream of said poultry portion.
 5. A method accordingto claim 2, further comprising determining at the control unit a newtarget weight for a subsequent cut poultry portion, said new targetweight being determined based on at least the target batch weight and anupdated weight of a present incomplete batch, and optionally based on atarget number of poultry portions in said batch and an updated number ofpoultry portions in said present incomplete batch and further optionallybased on a weight of a subsequent poultry portion and/or a weight of oneor more poultry portions located upstream of said subsequent poultryportion.
 6. (canceled)
 7. A method according to claim 1, whereindetermining the target weight is based on a minimum and/or maximum cutpoultry portion weight.
 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein theinspection unit comprises a weighing unit and inspecting the poultryportion comprises weighing said poultry portion with the weighing unit.9. (canceled)
 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the inspectionunit comprises a scanning unit and inspecting the poultry portioncomprises scanning said poultry portion with the scanning unit, whereinsaid scanning unit is preferably an ultrasound unit or an x-ray unit.11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising inspecting thepoultry portion so as to identify a predetermined anatomical region ofsaid poultry portion, and calculating the cutting plan based on the massdistribution and the predetermined anatomical region.
 12. A methodaccording to claim 11, wherein calculating the cutting plan comprisesidentifying a cutting line within the predetermined anatomical regionthat produces a cut poultry portion that meets the target weight.
 13. Amethod according to claim 1, further comprising inspecting the poultryportion so as to identify a major axis of the poultry portion andwherein calculating the cutting plan comprises calculating a cuttingline relative to the major axis.
 14. (canceled)
 15. (canceled) 16.(canceled)
 17. A method according to claim 1, wherein arranging saidpoultry portion for execution of the cutting plan comprises moving saidpoultry portion relative to the cutting unit.
 18. (canceled) 19.(canceled)
 20. (canceled)
 21. A method according to claim 1, comprisingcutting the poultry portion while said poultry portion is gripped by themechanical gripper.
 22. A method according to claim 1, wherein themechanical gripper comprises a weighing unit and further comprisingweighing the cut poultry portion with the mechanical gripper afterexecution of the cutting plan.
 23. A method according to claim 1,wherein the cutting unit is configured to cut along a predeterminedcutting direction and wherein gripping said poultry portion comprisesarranging said poultry portion relative to the predetermined cuttingdirection such that the cutting unit is able to cut said poultry portionin accordance with the cutting plan.
 24. A method according to claim 1,comprising gripping the poultry portion at a pickup location using themechanical gripper and further comprising depositing the cut poultryportion at a deposit location, separate from the pickup location, usingthe mechanical gripper.
 25. A method according to claim 24, wherein themethod comprises forming a batch of poultry portions and wherein thedeposit location is a package for the batch of poultry portions. 26.(canceled)
 27. A method according to claim 1, comprising determining aplurality of target weights, each target weight being associated with arespective order to be fulfilled, and further comprising selecting oneof the plurality of target weights that best corresponds to theinspected poultry portion, wherein calculating the cutting plan is basedon the selected target weight and the mass distribution of the inspectedpoultry portion.
 28. (canceled)
 29. A system for processing poultryportions, the system comprising: a control unit adapted to determine atarget weight of a cut poultry portion and to calculate a cutting planof a poultry portion based on the target weight and a mass distributionof said poultry portion; an inspection unit adapted to inspect a poultryportion to determine the mass distribution of said poultry portion andprovide said mass distribution to the control unit; a mechanical gripperadapted to grip the poultry portion and arrange said poultry portion forexecution of the cutting plan; and a cutting unit adapted to cut thepoultry portion in accordance with the cutting plan so as to produce acut poultry portion in accordance with the target weight of a cutpoultry portion.
 30. (canceled)
 31. A computer-readable mediumcomprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by acomputer, cause the computer to carry out steps of: determining a targetweight of a cut poultry portion; calculating a cutting plan of thepoultry portion based on the target weight and a received massdistribution of the poultry portion; instructing a mechanical gripper togrip the poultry portion and arrange said poultry portion for executionof the cutting plan; instructing a cutting unit to cut the poultryportion in accordance with the cutting plan so as to produce a cutpoultry portion in accordance with the target weight.
 32. (canceled)